Aims: This study was aimed to identify the risk factors for the acquisition of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae on non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) patients in a tertiary care hospital in Indonesia. Methodology and results: A case-control study was performed between March 31, 2018, and August 31, 2019. Twenty-eight ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates and 28 susceptible strains of E. coli and K. pneumoniae obtained from NV-HAP patients were included in this study. Phenotypic screening for ESBL production was performed by the Vitek2 system and subsequently confirmed by double-disk synergy tests. The use of 3rd generation cephalosporin as initial antibiotic therapy for more than three days was the significant risk factor for the acquisition of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae among NV-HAP patients (odds ratio [OR] 41.827; p=0.001). The length of stay of patients with NV-HAP acquiring the ESBL strains was longer than 10 days (OR 17.334; p=0.001). Conclusion, significance and impact of study The use of 3rd generation cephalosporin as the initial antibiotic for NV-HAP should be restricted to prevent the emergence of ESBL-producing strains. Infection prevention measures are required to control the acquisition of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae in NV-HAP patients.
beta-Lactamases ; Escherichia coli ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Cross Infection ; Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia ; Tertiary Care Centers

healthcare worker (HCW) is important for preventing transmission in the hospital. We evaluated the seroprevalence of mumps in HCWs in a tertiary care hospital in Republic of Korea. A total of 6,055 HCWs born between 1950 and 1995 underwent antibody testing. The overall seropositivity rate of mumps was 87% (95% confidence interval, 86%–87%). Our data indicates that, in Korean HCWs, testing for mumps antibody followed by mumps vaccination is more appropriate than routine mumps vaccination without testing for mumps antibody.]]>
Delivery of Health Care ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Korea ; Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine ; Mumps ; Republic of Korea ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Tertiary Healthcare ; Vaccination

tertiary care hospital in the ROK between 2017 and 2018 were evaluated.RESULTS: Out of 37 patients with hvKP liver abscess, 11 patients were noted to have K. pneumoniae isolated from stool samples and were enrolled for analysis. The median age was 71 years. For hvKP isolates from the liver aspirate samples, the most common serotype was K1 (72.7%) followed by K2 (27.3%). For K. pneumoniae isolates from the stool sample, the majority was non-K1/K2 serotype (72.7%). Among non-K1/K2 serotype isolates, high variability of sequence type (ST; ST15, ST307, ST37, ST273, ST2622, and ST42) with high rate of presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (100.0%) was noted. The concordance rate of the K. pneumoniae isolates between the liver aspirate samples and the stool samples from the primary hvKP liver abscess was low (27.3%).CONCLUSION: This study suggests that significant heterogeneity of K. pneumoniae colonizing intestinal tract of the hvKP liver abscess patients. Further studies involving a larger number of hvKP liver abscess patients with continuing surveillance are needed to define the changing epidemiology and the role of gastrointestinal K. pneumoniae in the hvKP liver abscess patients in the ROK.]]>
beta-Lactamases ; Colon ; Epidemiology ; Far East ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Klebsiella ; Liver Abscess ; Liver ; Pneumonia ; Population Characteristics ; Republic of Korea ; Serogroup ; Tertiary Healthcare

PURPOSE: While there is an urgent need for diagnosis and therapeutic intervention in patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs), current genetic tests have drawbacks. We retrospectively reviewed the usefulness of flow cytometry (FCM) as a quick tool for immunophenotyping and functional assays in patients suspected to have PIDs at a single tertiary care institute.METHODS: Between January 2001 and June 2018, patients suspected of having PIDs were subjected to FCM tests, including lymphocyte subset analysis, detection of surface- or intracellular-target proteins, and functional analysis of immune cells, at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. The genetic diagnosis was performed using Sanger or diagnostic exome sequencing.RESULTS: Of 60 patients diagnosed with definite or probable PID according to the European Society of Immune Deficiencies criteria, 24 patients were provided with useful information about immunological dysfunction after initial FCM testing. In 10 patients, the PID diagnosis was based on abnormal findings in FCM testing without genetic tests. The FCM findings provided strong evidence for the diagnosis of severe combined immunodeficiency (n = 6), X-linked chronic granulomatous diseases (CGD) (n = 6), leukocyte adhesion deficiency type 1 (n = 3), X-linked agammaglobulinemia (n = 11), autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome-FASLG (n = 1), and familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 2 (n = 1), and probable evidence for autosomal recessive-CGD (n = 2), autosomal dominant-hyper-immunoglobulin E (IgE)-syndrome (n = 1), and STAT1 gain-of-function mutation (n = 1). In PIDs derived from PIK3CD (n = 2), LRBA (n = 2), and CTLA4 mutations (n = 3), the FCM test provided useful evidence of immune abnormalities and a tool for treatment monitoring.CONCLUSIONS: The initial application of FCM, particularly with known protein targets on immune cells, would facilitate the timely diagnosis of PIDs and thus would support clinical decisions and improve the clinical outcome.
Agammaglobulinemia ; Diagnosis ; Exome ; Flow Cytometry ; Genetic Testing ; Granulomatous Disease, Chronic ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Korea ; Leukocytes ; Lymphocyte Subsets ; Lymphohistiocytosis, Hemophagocytic ; Phenotype ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul ; Severe Combined Immunodeficiency ; Tertiary Healthcare

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the trends in demographics and outcomes of patients presenting with traumatic brain injury by performing a retrospective database review of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Trauma Registry.METHODS: We utilized the IDPH Trauma Registry to retrieve data on patients treated for traumatic brain injuries at our large, tertiary care hospital from 2004 to 2012, inclusive. From this data, logistic regression models were used to analyze and compare basic demographics such as age, sex, and clinical outcome.RESULTS: Three thousand and thirty-nine patients were analyzed with a mean age of 43 (standard deviation, 24) and a median age of 41 (interquartile range, 23 to 60). Over the study period, patients’ age increased steadily from 32 to 49 years. The percentage of female patients increased, from 16.4% to 27.5% over the last 4 years. Overall mortality was greater for males than females (22.1% vs. 17.3%; odds ratio [OR], 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10 to 1.68). Mortality decreased over the period (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.85 to 0.91), with a greater decrease in females (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.90) than in males (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.86 to 0.94).CONCLUSION: Although the age of patients presenting with traumatic brain injury is increasing substantially, the data suggests that overall mortality appears to be decreasing, and this decrease appears to be greater in females than in males. These changes in trends found in the IDPH Trauma Registry supports the importance for further analysis of other reliable public datasets to identify areas of future study.
Brain Injuries ; Dataset ; Demography ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Humans ; Illinois ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mortality ; Odds Ratio ; Patient Outcome Assessment ; Public Health ; Retrospective Studies ; Tertiary Healthcare

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effect of vitrification on apoptosis and survival in human preantral follicles after thawing.METHODS: This experimental study was conducted at an acute tertiary care hospital from March 2012 to April 2013. Ovaries were sliced into 5×5×1-mm pieces and divided into the following three groups: preantral follicle isolation, ovarian tissue vitrification-warming followed by follicle isolation, and immunohistochemistry of fresh ovarian tissue. For statistical analyses, the Student t-test, chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used.RESULTS: A total of 161 preantral follicles (70% secondary) were collected from ovarian cortex tissue of six women between 30 and 37 years of age who underwent oophorectomy due to cervical cancer or breast cancer. There were no significant differences in the follicular morphology of fresh preantral follicles and vitrified follicles after thawing. The mean Fas ligand (FasL) mRNA expression level was 0.43±0.20 (relative to β-actin) in fresh preantral follicles versus 0.51±0.20 in vitrified follicles (p=0.22). The mean caspase-3 mRNA expression level in fresh preantral follicles was 0.56±0.49 vs. 0.27±0.21 in vitrified follicles (p=0.233). One vitrified-thawed secondary follicle grew and developed to an antral follicle within 6 days of culture.CONCLUSION: Vitrification did not affect preantral follicle morphology or mRNA expression of the apoptosis markers FasL and caspase-3. Further studies are required to establish whether vitrification affects the outcomes of in vitro culture and the maturation of preantral follicles.
Apoptosis ; Breast Neoplasms ; Caspase 3 ; Fas Ligand Protein ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; In Vitro Techniques ; Ovariectomy ; Ovary ; RNA, Messenger ; Tertiary Healthcare ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Vitrification

Detailed description of malaria in low transmission areas is crucial for elimination. The current study aimed to provide a comprehensive description for malaria transmission in Jazan, a low transmission district, southwestern Saudi Arabia. Patients at a tertiary care hospital were recruited in our study between August 2016 and September 2018. Malaria diagnosis was performed through a species-specific nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR), microscopy and Paramax-3™ rapid detection test (RDT). Malaria was detected in 30 patients by the PCR, with point prevalence of 10.9%. Of these malaria infections, 80% was imported, 26.6% was asymptomatic and 23.3% was sub-microscopic. Malaria was reported throughout the year, with February/March and September/October peaks. Infection was significantly more in males than in females (P=0.01). Likewise, infections were detected more in febrile than in non-febrile patients (P=0.01). Adult aged 15–24 years, fever and travel were identified as high-risk factors. Malaria was primarily attributed to Plasmodium falciparum mono-infections, followed by P. vivax mono-infections and lastly to falciparum/vivax mixed infections accounting 76.6%, 16.6%, and 6.6% of PCR-confirmed malaria cases, respectively. The nested PCR was superior to the smear microscopy (sensitivity 76.6%; specificity 100%) and the RDT (sensitivity 83.3%, specificity 94.2%). The overall percent agreement between microscopy and the RDT was 92.7% (kappa=0.63). High proportion of imported malaria including sub-microscopic and sub-patent cases were described. We suggest that incorporation of molecular tool into the conventional malaria diagnosis is beneficial in Jazan district.
Adult ; Coinfection ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Malaria ; Male ; Microscopy ; Plasmodium falciparum ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Saudi Arabia ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tertiary Healthcare

PURPOSE: Quality indicators of the National Endoscopy Quality Improvement Program (NEQIP) and outcome measures of endoscopy in the National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) in Korea are not clear. We evaluated the quality indicators of the revised NEQIP and outcome measures of endoscopy at different types of healthcare facilities participating in the NCSP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted between March and August 2018 in primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare facilities that perform endoscopy as a part of the NCSP. Representative endoscopists completed a questionnaire for quality indicators of the NEQIP and provided data on outcome measures for endoscopy. RESULTS: Quality indicators of the NEQIP were mostly acceptable. However, the quality indicators for annual volume of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and colonoscopy, training for endoscopy quality improvement by endoscopy nursing staff, colonoscopy reports, documentation of pathologic lesions, quality of endoscopy reprocessing areas, and completion of endoscopy reprocessing education programs were suboptimal. For outcome measures of EGD, the number of photo-documentations and total procedure time were higher at tertiary healthcare facilities than at other facilities (p<0.001 and p=0.023, respectively). For the outcome measures of colonoscopy, colonoscopy completion rate and waiting times for colonoscopy were significantly higher at tertiary healthcare facilities than at other facilities (both p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Outcome measures of endoscopy should be included as quality indicators of NCSP. However, universal outcome measures for all types of healthcare facilities should be established because performance levels of some outcome measures differ among individual healthcare facility types.
Colonoscopy ; Delivery of Health Care ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Education ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Nursing Staff ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Quality Improvement ; Tertiary Healthcare

PURPOSE: This study was done to assess development and postnatal care interventions in postnatal care intervention records for maternity ward nurses in tertiary hospitals and women's hospitals in South Korea. METHODS: This mixed-method research was a Time-Motion (TM) study. Data were collected through external observation of 12 nurses in 4 wards over 24 hours. Mann-Whitney U test and independent t-test were employed for the analysis of frequency and provision time of direct/indirect care activity. χ² (Fisher's exact test) was utilized to determine the difference in frequency between two groups. IBM SPSS 22.0 statistical program was employed for calculation. All statistical significance levels were at α= .05. RESULTS: According to the KPCS-1 (Korean Patient Classification System-1), women's hospitals are group 3 and tertiary hospitals, group 4. With respect to time difference in direct care, tertiary hospitals showed 791 minutes and women's hospitals, 399 a difference of 392 minutes. For time difference in indirect care, women's hospitals had 2,415 minutes while tertiary hospitals, 2,080, a difference of 335 minutes for women's hospitals. No difference was found in the average total care workload between the two institutions. Individual time also showed no difference (p>.05). CONCLUSION: High-risk maternal care strength in tertiary hospitals and breast-feeding strength in women's hospitals need to be benchmarked with each other.
Benchmarking ; Classification ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Postnatal Care ; Postpartum Period ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Tertiary Healthcare

PURPOSE: Diagnosis of anaphylaxis depends on clinical manifestations and a high index of suspicion, and a misdiagnosis can lead to a preventable death. We aimed to investigate age group characteristics of clinical features and epinephrine use in children with anaphylaxis who visited the emergency department (ED).METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review of 138 children who visited a tertiary care hospital ED from January through December 2018, and were discharged with anaphylaxis as the diagnosis. Anaphylaxis was defined according to the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease criteria. The children were divided into 4 age groups; infants (< 1 year), preschoolers (1–5 years), schoolers (6–11 years), and adolescents (12–18 years). Clinical features and epinephrine use were compared among the age groups.RESULTS: Of the 138 children with presumed anaphylaxis, 108 met the criteria. The most common cause was food (74%), followed by drugs (10.2%). Epinephrine was used in 82 children (75.9%). The infants and preschoolers reported less frequent cardiovascular symptoms (0%–3.6% vs. 26.5%, P = 0.020) and epinephrine use (33.3%–70.9% vs. 91.2%, P = 0.037) compared to the adolescents. The former 2 age groups reported food as triggers more frequent, and often reported food-associated and respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms.CONCLUSION: Infants and preschoolers with anaphylaxis may undergo less frequent cardiovascular symptoms and epinephrine use compared to adolescents. This feature prompts to increased epinephrine use in the former age groups even without ageadjusted hypotension.
Academies and Institutes ; Adolescent ; Anaphylaxis ; Child ; Communicable Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Emergencies ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Epinephrine ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Hypotension ; Infant ; Retrospective Studies ; Tertiary Healthcare